SHAH ALAM - The Shah Alam High Court has affirmed a previous Labour Court decision ordering an employer to pay over RM760,000 in outstanding wages to 93 migrant workers who arrived in Malaysia last year but were left without jobs.

According to a report by Malaysiakini, the ruling, delivered on 31 October by High Court judge Narkunavathy Sundareson, confirmed the workers’ right to wages from the moment they entered the country in 2023.

Narkunavathy stressed that migrant employees cannot be treated as a “reserve pool of labour”, describing such a view as fundamentally flawed.

She upheld the Labour Court’s assessment that each worker was owed between RM2,000 and RM11,000, noting the employment contracts required wages to commence upon arrival.

The judge rejected the employer’s argument that salaries were not due until work permits were issued, stating the contract terms clearly prohibited treating workers like stock to be paid only when used.

Workers’ counsel, Joachim Xavier and Sahain Nada Puthucheary, who represented them pro bono, said the award also covered RM120,000 in unlawful deductions for expenses such as phone charges, bedding, equipment and cleaning.

The case followed Malaysiakini’s 2023 investigation into a recruitment syndicate involving Malaysian firms accused of securing quotas to import foreign labour using falsified documents and exploiting loopholes in government systems.

Aecor Innovation Sdn Bhd, the employer in this case, had appealed the initial decision, claiming the employment contract was invalid and alleging that only a handful of workers testified while the rest relied on statutory declarations permitted under labour law.

The company further argued that the Labour Department failed to properly consider its defence.

One of the workers, who declined to be identified, expressed relief at the outcome and urged other migrant workers pursuing labour claims to remain determined and united.

All 93 workers have since obtained employment with multinational shipping company Maersk.

Investigations previously linked Aecor Innovation and five other firms to allegations of bringing in more than 1,600 migrant workers in early 2023 despite having applied for over 4,000, only for many to be left without jobs upon arrival.

Some of the affected workers were forced to travel around Malaysia with their belongings in search of employment, resembling a homeless situation.